Tag Archives: east goshen farmers market

simple joys

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DSC_0029I was at the East Goshen Farmers Market taking photos (and shopping!) yesterday.  It was a fabulous market and the layout is even better than last year (it would remind you of more of an European market)  and I really liked that there were more actual farmers and fewer prepared meals people.  I like to cook, so that is my preference.

The East Goshen Farmers Market is under new management which I am very excited about because they are so nice and working so hard for everyone – East Goshen’s market is township sponsored.  Some of the new faces I saw yesterday included North Star Orchards whom I visit on Saturdays in the summer at the West Chester Growers Market. Of course I also had to visit Carmen of Carmen B’s Honey which is pretty much the best local honey available!

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Anyway, in spite of the many silly rumors that East Goshen wasn’t having an outdoor market this season, it had a large crowd yesterday and many new vendors.  And it’s all about the farmers (or should be) so I hope you check them out!

If you were on LAST year’s market list for notifications and what not, you will need to register again.  Apparently something corrupted the old list, which happens.  Send an e-mail to marketcoordinator@eastgoshenfarmersmarket.org or click on their website http://www.eastgoshenfarmersmarket.org/ and follow their site for the same thing. Or your third choice is to message them through their Facebook page.

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I know it gets a little confusing because the former market manager who left to form her for profit business with a model oddly similar to my friend Janet’s Clover Market has somehow forgotten to take down the OLD East Goshen Farmers Market website/blog (http://www.eastgoshenfarmersmarket.blogspot.com ) can you believe it?  Anyway, I heard there is a lot of drama going on with that new Malvern market and I don’t understand why that Market Manager can’t live and let live?

I really want to support all three markets, but heck even with Kimberton Whole Foods as a named lead sponsor, until they work out those issues, how can I?  I attend these markets to support (and follow) certain farms whose products I like and I don’t have time for middle school turf wars do you?

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Anyway enough of the vinegar, enjoy these first photos.  I snapped them of the Amish children who were playing as their parents worked their booths.  These kids were just so lovely and I loved the fact they could enjoy the simple pleasures of a nice afternoon without having their heads in an iPhone or video game.

I call the photos Simple Joys.  I will have more market photos later. Support your local farmers markets wherever you live – it supports local farmers and we need them in our communities!

Enjoy the beautiful weather today!

 

 

 

farmers market season is here!

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Taken at West Chester Growers Market Summer 2012

Taken at West Chester Growers Market Summer 2012

Farmers Market season is nigh!

East Goshen Farmers Market returns to it’s full outside glory on Thursday May 9th in East Goshen’s Park.

A new Malvern Farmers Market has it’s first day Saturday May 4, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., rain or shine. It is sponsored by Kimberton Whole Foods and will be in Burke Park in the Borough of Malvern off Burke and Warren.

I believe the opening day of West Chester Growers Market is also this coming Saturday morning May 4th.

There are also many other farmers markets throughout Chester County, but these are the three that I know about right now – feel free to pop info on other markets in a comment!

east goshen farmers market holiday market – thursday december 20!

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**NOTE*** MARKET LOCATION FOR 12/20/2012 IS EAST GOSHEN PUBLIC WORKS BUILDING 1580 PAOLI PIKE FROM 3:30 PM TO 6:00 PM

(Don’t forget to like their new page on Facebook!)

east goshen farmers market light coming to malvern in 2013

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File under taking the farmers market show on the road.

I love the East Goshen Farmers Market .  It is far better run than the Farm to City Markets I used to patronize because although not inexpensive, the price points at East Goshen’s market are a lot more attractive than the pricing I see some of the same vendors do in Bryn Mawr.  And there is a far greater variety of farms to choose from.  Also, the vibe is so awesome each week.  As someone settling into a new community after 30 plus years in another community, this is one of the little things that has helped my transition because although I do not know a lot of people out here yet, going to the market has helped be become comfortable with my new community.

East Goshen Farmers Market has so many terrific farmers, and I patronize all but one farm – the farming folk known as the Millers and Birchrun Hills Farm. Given the treatment people I know in West Vincent receive from Farmer-Supervisor Miller and the other supervisors in West Vincent, it is so unfortunate, but I just can’t patronize them.  To me it would be morally wrong to put jingle in their pockets. And that pains me, because no matter what I like to support local farmers whenever I can.

Mind you that opinion cost this blog being linked to the East Goshen Farmers Market site  (at their original request, not mine) and for the market manager Lisa O’Neill to treat me like I had a disease any time I tried to say hello.  She and her co-market manager Donna Levitsky are trying to be politically correct and  face it, I am not your average PTA mom…. and I am a blogger who doesn’t just blog about recipes and homemaking projects, so I get that, it’s cool.  I just don’t bother to say hi any longer. It is easier and makes them more comfortable – they are so busy on market days, I wouldn’t want to detract from what they have to do by saying hi, you know?

Anyway, Lisa has in all honesty produced a most fabulous market for East Goshen (I featured it in an article I wrote about farm markets and community gardens for Philly.com this summer) , and she is apparently taking her show on the road for 2013.  Malvern Patch is reporting that East Goshen’s market will be giving birth in the spring of 2013 to a mini version of itself in Malvern on Saturday mornings.  That is awesome, even if it is the exact same time and day I believe as the West Chester Growers Market which is quite simply amazing, as well as the market that is the original of all these local farm markets.

I am glad local farmers will be getting more exposure – this will be another producers only market.  That means to be there and sell, you grow it/you raise it.

One question, however.  East Goshen Farmers Market is sponsored by East Goshen Township and The Friends of East Goshen – and part of the money they say in their mission statement goes back to East Goshen Park.  So will part of the monies here go back to Burke Park in Malvern Borough where this will be held?  Who is sponsoring this market? Is the borough or is there another non-profit sponsor?  Or maybe they will start their own company or non-profit at this point? And what do Lisa O’Neill and her co-manager Donna Levitsky (one of the owners of Shellbark Hollow Farm which is a participating farm at East Goshen Farmers market) get out of this monetarily?  Not being mean, just being realistic.   A former neighbor is the market manager of the Bryn Mawr Farmers Market and I know the lady who manages the Collegeville Farmers Market. I know the incredible amount of time they put into running just one market.  Will they receive a salary for this Malvern market?  A profit-sharing slice of market profits?  Or is this all done in a volunteer capacity?  Either scenario is fine with me, I am not judging – I am merely curious how it all works.  Most markets I have come across, pay their market managers something for all their efforts. And running a Saturday morning market will sure mean more effort as they will be up with the roosters to ensure the market is set up by 9 a.m.

Here’s the update from Patch and I am looking forward to this market and Kimberton Whole Foods coming to Malvern!  I am still not a fan of the development occurring on East King Street, however, outside of Kimberton Whole Foods coming to town.  I think the development in the end will prove to be too dense and too much for the borough of Malvern to handle.

New Malvern Farmers Market Begins in Spring 2013

About 25 growers and vendors will set up shop in Burke Park on Saturdays.

ByPete Kennedy  Email the author  5:30 am

Local communities do indeed benefit HUGELY from things like farmers markets.  It brings people to town who might never otherwise visit.  And Malvern is cute.  The Bryn Mawr Farmers Market (albeit expensive) has greatly benefited Bryn Mawr by giving it foot traffic on Saturdays, and things like First Friday Main Line and Clover Market have also similarly benefited main street Ardmore.  (and if you have never been to either First Friday Main Line or Clover Market, you should check them out!)

Final note – today’s photos are of the veggies from Balsam Farms in Amagansett, NY…a little slice of heaven much like Sugartown Strawberries around here.

Hey, it is the end of September so what farms are doing the best corn mazes and hay rides and pumpkin things this year?  Let me know!  You know how I love pumpkins!!!

good news/ouch news

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So yesterday I took a tumble down the stairs and ended up in the E.R. of Chester County Hospital.  It was a somewhat full moon kind of crowd, and there was a run on sprained ankles.  I had never been inside the hospital or to the hospital, truthfully don’t do much E.R. time.

Can I just say that hospital is amazing and what a good experience I had?  The last time I had been near an E.R. was to pick someone up at Bryn Mawr Hospital and it was not like this.  At Bryn Mawr, the staff was testy to say the least, and more concerned with personal calls on their mobile phones that caring for patients.  And the place was dirty and smelled.  Chester County Hospital was the opposite of that.  The staff from checking in to checking out were so nice, and that hospital is the cleanest hospital I have ever been in.

Now that ouch is out of the way (I am o.k., just a sprain!) I got cool news today.  The people that do Bon Apetit online (epicurious.com) are indeed publishing a recipe of mine in a cookbook being released this fall !!!  You will have to wait to see what recipe it is precisely as it is now in the book but it is called “Kitchen Sink Frittata”, but I am so excited!  They tell me I will also be featured in some little online write-up September 12th too.

The book is available for advanced ordering at a discount from Amazon.com and here is what it is about:

The Epicurious Cookbook: More Than 250 of Our Best-Loved Four-Fork Recipes for Weeknights, Weekends & Special Occasions
By Tanya Steel, The Editors of Epicurious.com

Product Description

For home cooks hungry for make-again recipes, here is an impeccably curated collection from Epicurious with more than 250 of their “4-fork” recipes, conveniently compiled in a book with new photography, new headnotes, and informative user tips. Epicurious is, undisputedly, the most respected website for people who like to cook. In their first-ever cookbook, the Epicurious editors have culled their extraordinary database of 180,000 recipes and selected their most popular recipes.
Organized seasonally and by meal type, The Epicurious Cookbook offers everything from 30-minute weeknight dinners to weekend warrior show-stoppers.

Also included are comfort food favorites, small dishes perfect for parties and plenty of repertoire-building mains and sides, plus breakfasts, breads, and desserts.

All new stunning four-color photography shows Epicurious at its most irresistible. Throughout are Epicurious member suggestions for tweaking recipes, ideas for menu planning, smart substitutions, and homespun recipes from dozens of Epicurious members newly tested for this cookbook.

Recipes include: Easy comfort foods: Chicken and Fall Vegetable Pot Pie, Beef Short Ribs Tagine, Spicy Mac and Cheese with Pancetta, Deviled Fried Chicken, Chili con Carne with Chili Cheddar Shortcakes

Fast Weeknight Dinners: Quick Paella, Wild Rice with Pecans, Raisin, and Orange Essence, Brussels Sprouts Hash with Caramelized Shallots, Rosemary Lamb Chops with Swiss Chard and Balsamic Syrup, Pan-Fried Spicy Orange Tilapia

Please-Everyone Vegetarian and Vegan Dishes: Chilled Soba with Tofu and Sugar Snap Peas, Spiced Lentil Tacos with Chipotle Sour Cream, Roasted Eggplant Salad

Special occasion show-stoppers: Tom Colicchio’s Herb-Butter Turkey, Beef Brisket with Merlot and Prunes, Wine-Braised Duck Legs

American Classics Updated—Burgers, Pizzas, Salads, Pastas, and Grilled Cheese: Coffee-Rubbed Cheeseburger with Texas Barbeque Sauce; Hearty Asparagus, Fingerling Potato, and Goat Cheese Pizza; Lobster Pasta in a Roasted Corn Sweet Bacon Cream; Grilled Cheese with Onion Jam, Taleggio, and Escarole

Breakfast and Brunch Stars: Extreme Granola with Dried Fruit, Kitchen Sink Frittata, Crème Brulee French Toast, and Ultimate Sticky Buns

Decadent Desserts: Double Layer Chocolate Cake, Apple Tart with Caramel Sauce, Frozen Lemon Ginger Snap Pie, Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownies with Salted Peanuts

Destined to be that classic you’ll turn to daily, The Epicurious Cookbook enhances the very best online content in a gorgeous cookbook.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #284871 in Books
  • Published on: 2012-10-30
  • Released on: 2012-10-30
  • Original language:      English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: .0″ h x  .0″ w x  .0″ l,   .81 pounds 
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 400 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author:

TANYA STEEL is the Editor-in-Chief of EPICURIOUS.COM. Winner of a James Beard award for restaurant reviewing, and a member of the Digital Hall of Fame, Steel was previously an editor at Bon Appetit, Diversion, Food & Wine, and Mademoiselle. She is the co-author of the award-winning Real Food for Healthy Kids.
Launched in 1995, EPICURIOUS is the most award-winning food site on the web, which has received 64 awards, including two James Beards, an Emmy, eighteen Webbys, and three from the American Society of Magazine Editors.

So, how cool is this?  To be in a real cookbook?  FUN!!!! YAY!!!!!  I love Epicurious.com and am so thrilled to be part of a cookbook they produce.  As a home cook this makes me feel really good.

funky lil’ cross promotion

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On one hand people should be glad this is way out in Pottstown.  On the other hand, given what nearly occurred at Christmas 2011 in Ludwig’s Corner, people should be saddened perhaps that a small business like Funky Lil’ Kitchen in Pottstown would not be more selective in their choice of farms.

I would never suggest this small business be boycotted because they are fabulous.  They just need to be educated.

Funky Lil’ Kitchen sent the following shout out to their fans and gastronomical followers:

From: Funky Lil Kitchen [mailto:funkylilkitchen@email.com] Sent: Monday, August 06, 2012 5:15 PM Subject: Birchrun Hills Farm Dinner with Sue Miller 8/16/12

Hello Friends,

We have set up a special night with our friend, local cheesemaker and farmer Sue Miller from Birchrun Hills Farm in Chester County on Thursday august 16th from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m..

Sue is best known for her cheeses but some people do not know she also produces veal and pork.

So we have teamed up with Sue for a special 4 course Prix Fixe Dinner for $35.00 per person(plus tax and gratuity).

Sue will be on hand to talk to you about her cheeses, cheese making and her veal and pork products.

We will be taking normal reservations this evening and you will need to call FLK to reserve your spot as we have blocked open table this night since it will be the only menu available on the 16th.

The Menu is as follows:

1st course- Roasted Chorizo, Griddled Cornbread, Grilled Corn and Charred Tomato Compote

2nd course- Pork & Beans: Braised Pork, Stewed White Beans, Summer Greens

3rd course- Veal Brisket, Summer Vegetable Ragout, Herb Veloute

4th course- Assorted Cheeses, FLK Apricot & Peach Jam, Toast

*(planned menu is subject to product availability and could be altered accordingly)

We hope you can join Sue and us on the 16th for this fun summer dinner event,

Michael & Tonda

Funky Lil Kitchen is located at:
232 King Street Pottstown, PA 19464 Phone: 610.326.7400 Fax: 610.326.0746
Get more information about Funky Lil Kitchen Make a reservation at Funky Lil Kitchen

We hope you enjoyed receiving this message. However, if you’d rather not receive future E-Mails of this sort, please reply to this E-Mail with your first and last name and use the subject: “Unsubscribe”.

Wow.  It’s like West Vincent Supervisor-Farmer in the Dell Ken Miller doesn’t exist, huh?  Talk about reinvention PR.  And if this event is sold out, it means a nice chunk of change going into the farmers’ pockets, yes? I mean Birchrun Hills Farm has had issues, right? And the farmers (Ken and Sur Miller) have had issues, right? But this is all in the fevered imagination of Chickenman, right?  None of these issues exist and public documents, right?

I will be honest.  I tried to patronize Birchrun Hills Farm when my friends first started the Bryn Mawr Farmers Market ( a Farm to City Market ). I knew nothing at this point about who Ken and Sue Miller were other than farmers participating in a market I wanted to support where I used to live on the Main Line.   That being said, I am not some fluff brained creature.  I cook, I garden, I have a level of intelligence.  I went to purchase some of Birchrun Hills products at one of the very first markets in Bryn Mawr and let me tell you it was hard to do that because Sue Miller had priced for Bryn Mawr and I almost fell over with sticker shock for what it was – to be honest, Birchrun Hills  is not the only farm who prices higher for the Main Line at the Bryn Mawr Farmers Market (and yes, the prices at that market are in some cases higher than farm markets and farm stands I patronize in the Hamptons of all places!).  HOWEVER, when I tried to ask Sue Miller  questions at the time about her products instead of just blindly dumping money in her pocket, she was rude.  Not her staff, but her, the farmer/owner.  I purchased once from her and once only as a result. I mentally crossed her off my list from that point on.  If I was too annoying to her to answer a couple of simple questions without attitude, well then she did not need me as a customer.  And truthfully, the products I purchased from Birchrun Hills Farm weren’t so fabulous, attitude of farmer owner aside.

And that was before eminent domain for private gain was attempted by Sue Miller’s husband and West Vincent Supervisor Ken Miller.  That right there sealed the deal. I would just make a personal choice to boycott their products wherever I saw them. I would never advocate boycotting any small business who buys from Birchrun Hills Farm, but I have told a few of them why I will not knowingly eat anything produced off that place.  When I go to places like White Dog Cafe in Wayne, I choose menu options that do not feature Birchrun Hills Farm products.  Same for when I visit places like Di Bruno Brothers.  Same for the East Goshen Farmers Market. I support the businesses, but I will not purchase products from that farm.

Now the East Goshen Farmers Market is of course something where a couple of personalities aside I still support them overall because it is the right thing to do.  I even featured them in an article I wrote this summer a few weeks ago for The Philadelphia Inquirer.  The women who run the market (and did I mention one of the women runs Shellbark Hollow Farm, a farm whose products I actually buy ?)  act like I have the bubonic plague  because I don’t support Birchrun Hills Farm, but you know what?  They can have their issues.  I don’t come to their market weekly carrying a sign in protest and I have never been anything but pleasant.  But I can’t support a farm where one of the owners supported an attempt at eminent domain for private gain.

So if you go to Funky Lil’ Kitchen in Pottstown, just ask them what products come from Birchrun Hills Farm and eat around that part of the menu.

I don’t know.  It just seems a lil’ funky that they are so prosperous at Birchrun Hills Farm, yet others in West Vincent struggle?  Especially the oddness of what happens to West Vincent residents when  they speak out against the political machine currently running the municipality, right?

Anyway, enough about this.  Funky Lil’ Kitchen is a great place.  But they are a little far afield even for me for dinner.  There are so many other places close by.  But again, don’t boycott the restaurant.  Just ask them how to eat around one particular farm. And if you know of farms who produce similar goods, suggest them as an alternative.

Final note?  If Ken Miller straightens up and flies right for the people of West Vincent (as in ALL the people of West Vincent, not a select set) I will be happy to stop commenting about his farm even if given their ridiculous pricing alone you should consider other farms…..

eat fresh, buy local

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Neighbors Main Line/Philly.com:  

Posted: Tue, Jul. 3, 2012, 7:28  PM

Eat locally: Farm fresh fruits and veggies from your own  ZIP code

Read more by clicking HERE 

And of all the super coolness possible with this byline, it is also over on the main news stack under food.  My byline right up near Craig LeBan.  Who woulda’ thunk it?  I love to write, and this is some amazing validation.  And I am thrilled to be able to write about things I love!

but honey, I need a cookie

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When I was little my mother tells me that one time I wanted a cookie and she said “no”.  Apparently, my reply was “But honey, I need a cookie.”

So the twelve-year-old in the house has been away visiting relatives out-of-state and I decided he might want some fresh-baked cookies when he gets home.  After all, you are never too old or too cool for a cookie.

I made my peanut butter cookies, and lucky all of you, the recipe is as follows for you to try yourselves – trust me you will love them.  They are chewy in the middle, crunchy outside and delicious!

Peanut Butter Deluxe Cookies

Pre-heat over to 300 degrees.

2 cups flour

1/3 cup oatmeal (as in plain, not flavored) 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

healthy dash green cardamom powder

healthy dash cinnamon

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 cup Domino’s Demera Washed Raw Cane Sugar 

1 cup of salted butter (soft, not melted)

3 eggs

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

bag peanut butter chips (the Reese’s brand is 1 1/3 cups)

back of Heath Bar toffee chips (also on the smaller side) 

Cream butter, both kinds of sugar together.  Until the proverbial fluffy (it doesn’t really look fluffy but that is what they say when you cream, right?) Alternate adding eggs one by one with peanut butter and vanilla.  Blend for a couple of minutes – start on low, and work up to medium with hand-held mixer.  (And wear an apron, or you will end up like me today, which was wearing batter and there will be no photo on that!)

In another bowl, mix dry ingredients together.  You can sift together if you want, I don’t.

Mix the two bowls together – I usually find it easiest to add the dry to the wet ingredients bowl.

Add the chips (toffee and peanut butter)

Drop by teaspoonful 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  I use parchment paper or silicone baking sheets on my cookie pans.  And I prefer the shiny silver AirBake insulated cookie sheets, just for the record.

Bake for 17 to 19 minutes depending on your oven.  My oven today decreed 19 minutes a batch .

Cool on cookie sheet on a cooling rack for a couple of minutes before moving cookies to a cooling rack to cool down completely.  Keep repeating until batter is gone.  I got like five dozen cookies out of the recipe today.  Store in a cookie tin and they will keep a couple of weeks if they are not devoured by then.

end of an era: genuardi’s to giant

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Today is the last day for Genuardi’s on Boot Road in West Chester.  At 6 p.m. this evening, the doors close for good as a Genuardi’s, and the conversion to Giant begins.

On June 15th, the Federal Trade Commission finally approved the sale of the 15 Genuardi’s stores to Giant.

But if we are honest with ourselves, the Genuardi’s Markets stopped being Genuardi’s when the family sold to Safeway in a transaction that was finalized in 2001.

The Boot Road store was truthfully, in my opinion, the best of the bunch.  I had mostly used the Wynnewood and St. David’s stores before, and St. David’s seemed to have issues being in a building that was rumored to have issues (you could see marks on the ceilings like there were roof leaks and stuff), and the customer service people and other staff weren’t especially helpful in a consistent way.  And the Wynnewood store ?  Well Wynnewood had haphazard service at best and that store was even more dirty than the Wynnewood Superfresh. And the parking lot in Wynnewood is a disaster. But if you live in Lower Merion, you might not notice all the potholes and surface issues in the lot because so many streets have the same issues around there.

I went to the store on Boot Road yesterday to pick up a couple of things and found the store mostly emptied out.  As per employees, the store hopes to re-open as a Giant on July 8th. It was so weird to be in an almost empty store.

One amusing thing I would like to share about being in Genuardi’s yesterday has nothing to do with the conversion.  It has to do with a pet peeve of mine – people having huge cell phone conversations loudly while shopping.

Yesterday, this chick saunters into what was left of frozen food with her cell phone on speaker and held out in her palm – à la Bravo Real Housewives of Anything.

It was one of those “I saw your man and let me tell you” conversations. It reminded me of that cell phone conversation on the commercial where the woman in the mall parking lot at first thinks the Rolls Royce is her car.  I feel bad for whomever was on the other end of that conversation as quite a few people heard most of the conversation before phone girl took it off speaker.  Definitely not a conversation you want random people to overhear, and we’ll leave it at that.

Keep cool today people!  And remember to go help East Goshen Farmers’ Market celebrate their 1st birthday this afternoon.

saturday morning at west chester grower’s market

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This morning my sweet man took me to the West Chester Grower’s Market for the first time and boy did I have fun!

It is not nearly as large as the East Goshen Farmers’ Market, and is in a more urban setting in downtown West Chester, but I loved it!  I had a lot of choices in produce, the produce prices in some cases were a little more money than East Goshen and in other cases less.

I bought fabulous mustard and bok choy greens and beautiful spinach from Queens Farm, eggs and tomatoes from London Vale Farm, crimini mushrooms of incredible beauty from Oley Mushrooms, and amazing sticky buns from Lizzie’s Kitchen. (East Goshen needs a regular PA German/Farm Market staple baker like this, but I would not dream of suggesting that to the Market Madam lest I be chided and reminded again that she is a nutritionist and mama knows best.)

I noticed on the West Chester Grower’s Market preview post that plant growers called Applied Climatology was going to be there with their day lillies.  Those people had me at hello.  I purchased two beautiful new day lilly cultivars for a deer free zone (fences make good neighbors when I comes to deer too!), and a cone flower cultivar in a peachy color I had never seen!

The market was packed and the people friendly.  I also purchased some fruit from Fahnstock’s Fruit Farm, but really felt like I was cheating on my farmers from Frecon Farms.

 

I had quite a few delightful photo opportunities and look forward to a return visit to this  market.  I will however, look forward to a cooler day at my regular market (East Goshen Farmers’ Market) next Thursday.